Love Lessons

The giving of love is an education in itself.  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
 
Those words appeared in my Quote of the Day widget this morning and seem very fitting.
 
Loving others is an ongoing educational theme in our family.  We love others because the LORD compels us to do as He did. 
We love others even when it is hard, messy, inconvenient or costly.  Serving the homeless, the poor, the outcasts of society is seldom easy, neat, convenient or cost-free.  But it is necessary.
We love those many deem unloveable because He loves them and wants to love them through us. 
 
Recently we've had to show our children that even when those we love (and at one time appeared to love us) do not treat us with either love or respect, we must still love and respect them.  And these painful  lessons come not from reaching out, but right inside our church family, where  Love One Another should be the standard.  Sadly, we've had more conversations with our children lately about how we are to respond when others in the church don't act in a godly, loving manner, than those centered on how to reach out in love to those who don't yet know Christ.  We are open and honest about these issues because we want our children to see that just like in our own family, when issues arise they must be dealt with, but always in love.  We love because He loves us, bottom line.  Even when it is hard, messy, inconvenient, and heart-breaking.  We pray, we talk, we cry, we pray more, and we love ... and we keep on loving no matter what. 
 
How do you teach "love lessons" in your family? 
 

Sowing Seeds

We planted beans in the garden yesterday.

Little fingers carefully spacing the seeds just so.

Teamwork was needed to get all those seeds in the soil.

Seeds are planted, now they need water. 

Other seeds being planted in little hearts as the water soaks into the soil...

And tonight, ready or not, there will be even more little hands, feet, and hearts in the garden with us.  As we sow more vegetable seeds in the soil, we pray that the Lord provides us opportunity to sow seeds of His Love into these dear ones lives, as well.

 

This season as we cultivate a garden in our community, we will be teaching others the skill of gardening, growing healthy food for those who are in need and to share with our neighbors; but our main goal is to sow the seed of the gospel into as many hearts as we are able.  For that is what He has asked of us, and those are the seeds that will produce the best fruit.  So, as we sow, weed, water, and pray ... we leave the results to God who is able to bring even our feeble attempts at serving Him to a glorious harvest. 

Not to us, O LORD, not to us

but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.  Psalm 115:1

M is for ...

A messy miscellany of musings beginning with the marvelous letter M!

Morning photos ...

Easily amused, I am ... but this sinkful of suds and springy fabrics scented with Woolite brought back fond memories of Grandma!

The birds (wrens or sparrows?) are building a nest in the birdhouse gourd on the patio ... mesmerizing!

Men at work, tilling the ministry garden!

My hubby manhandling the tiller.  He makes it look easy (it's not...oh my... not for me anyway).

And finally ... Motel in the background of the ministry garden ... maybe not the most charming of places to stay.

Memories of a morning on the beach ... my how my babies have grown!

See what I mean ...

OK, now that I've meandered down memory lane and mosied by the ministry garden ...

I must mention at least one herb or I'll just feel like something is missing.

So, today's herb of the day is Mint.

Mint is marvelous, most delicious smelling, and a must for your garden as well as your teapot.  Many, many varieties of mint  are to be found - peppermint, spearmint, applemint, orange mint, lemon mint, even chocolate mint! 

Mint is also helpful around the house.  Ants get all mixed up when you put mint in their pathway ... messes with their minds or something! 

Mint essential oil in a bowl of steamy water is a momentous help when you have a stuffy head. 

Just be careful never to plant mint directly in the garden, it will most likely become a menace!  Put it in a container instead, where it can mind its manners. 

That's it for this edition of Alphabe-Thursday.  Visit Jenny Matlock for more fun with the letter M!

New Beginnings

Pondering this beautiful post and the Lord's timing today. Ann has such a lovely way of expressing her thoughts, it's always a joy to read her words.
Today's entry touched me deeply, as the Jewish New Year will also be a day of new beginnings for my family. As only the Lord can do, He orchestrated it beautifully without me having a clue until I read today's post at Holy Experience.
You see, on Saturday my husband and I have a very important meeting. In our realm, it is called a Church Planter Assessment. What that means is that we get to spend the hours from 12:00-3:00 pm answering lots of questions from our local director of missions, a representative from our state convention, a fellow pastor, and perhaps others. It promises to be somewhat nerve wracking for this woman who prefers the comfort of a backspace button to correct her frequent errors of speech. Nevertheless, this assessment will help these gentlemen see where we are in regards to our church plant, and prayerfully will encourage the entities represented to provide my husband with financial support so that he may spend more time on ministry and less time working 2 jobs to provide for his family.
Regardless of what happens in the assessment (which we have been assured will go great, no worries), this new season promises to be one of great change and challenge for us. Some changes have already taken place, many more will come in just a few short weeks, and I know the Lord has some planned that He will surprise us with at just the right time!
In light of the new year, the new season, I think a celebration is in order. I'll be perusing the links in Ann's post again and reading my copy of Celebrating Biblical Feasts to put together a little Rosh Hashanah observance for our family.
If your family observes the Biblical feasts and holidays, I'd love to hear how you celebrate them.
And, if the Holy Spirit leads ... Would you whisper a little prayer for us in the coming days?